


Black Magic

by writingfromasgard



Series: Hilde the Gentle x Halfdan the Black [6]
Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: F/M, Vampire AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 07:06:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21240140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingfromasgard/pseuds/writingfromasgard
Summary: Hilde's path has always been laid out before her in black and white.





	Black Magic

Hilde’s heartbeat spiked from fear and excitement. She knew the tales of the dark beast that seduced women and the occasional man, giving them a night of unimaginable pleasure while sucking their precious blood from them. This hunt felt different from the others. Something warned her to be more alert, to fight tooth and nail from the start. The fog had rolled in around her tiny camp in the mountains, the first sign of the vampire. She could hear the whispers of voices around her with no visible source. She held her blanket around her shoulders tighter with one hand while the other poked at the fire.

Patience. She had to wait until she felt its disgusting claws around her before she struck. After the rash of reports of mauled hikers, attributed to wolves in the area, she knew she had found a nest. She had hardly recovered from her last hunt when she boarded a plane and headed deep into the mountains. A tendril of mist slipped closer to her, inches away from her ankle. “You are too brave, elskede.” A new whisper said. A man’s voice with an overtly alluring tone. “I can hear your heart ready to burst out of your chest.” 

She felt compelled to respond, like he-- it was trying to pull words from her. “You are the one responsible for the deaths of the hikers.” She felt a hand ghost up her back, making her jump to her feet away from it. There was nothing there. No vampire, no hand, not even mist. “I hate these stupid games.” 

A throaty laughter came from behind her. She could feel the breath against her cheek but knew he-- **it** wasn’t really there. “I don’t mean to frighten you.” The mist crept away from her camp until before stood the vampire. He approached from the dense treeline on the other side of her fire. He had a worn tattoo on his face, an unusual hairstyle that reminded her more of a rocker than a vampire, and a perfectly built frame. She could feel his suggestion to remain calm and gave into it. “I’m hunting the one who killed them.”

His words hadn’t registered until he was only a few steps away from her. Hilde could see herself sinking into his embrace, tracing the lines that ran up over his brow. She snapped at her mind. It was clear why she had felt uneasy about this one. He was stronger, more... human than she expected. “You killed them. They were killed by a vampire.” Her gaze sharpened at him and she took a step backward, needing to get some space between her and this creature.

“I didn’t kill them. They were killed by..” He cursed in another language, one she wasn’t familiar with. He motioned to his head. “The vampire drank someone’s infected blood... He is sick.” Sick? Vampires got sick? Her brows knitted together in confusion. The minor distraction made his quick movements near impossible to avoid. He stood close to her in the blink of an eye and reached out to touch her skin.

Hilde flinched, remembering the mind consuming pain she felt the last time her skin had come into contact with a vampire. She braced herself for it and was surprised to feel calloused hands gently cupping her cheek. "I-I don't understand. Why doesn't it hurt?" She opened her eyes and made a life changing mistake. He looked intrigued and even.. comforted.

"The vampires you encounter... they suffer from the same sickness as my- as the vampire you are hunting. Their illness tries to infect others through touch." She swallowed, feeling warmth radiating from his hand. It spread out from her cheek to her head before sinking down to her toes. It made her feel safe, safer than she had ever felt before. "My name is Halfdan, elskede. What is yours?" There that word was again. She didn't understand it but found her heart skipping a beat each time he said it.

"Hilde." Her stomach lurched suddenly. If the vampires she had killed were sick, was there a cure? Had she murdered them for that reason? The idea that her morals had guided her to kill vampires for being sick turned her stomach. Had she killed ones that weren't sick? Halfdan swept her short, choppy hair away from her face. The movement brought her back to the present and she stumbled away from him, shaking her head clear. This must be another trick.

His expression turned grim. "Only recently have my people developed a cure. If caught early, it is easy to treat." Weeks. It had been weeks since the first discovered body. Was it too late for the one she was hunting? What about the ones she had killed stretching back years ago? Again, she banished the doubts she had to the edge of her mind. This vampire must be more powerful than the ones she had encountered before. That's why his suggestions were so hard to push back against.

"Every one of you always has some story you try to tell me. Injured, looking for someone, a dog, a pet, just a tourist." Hilde recalled the memories she had from her younger days, the reason she started hunting. She reached for her weapon and grasped at air. Halfdan- no, the vampire in front of her held up her silver laced blade.

"The one you're hunting is my brother. There's still time for him to be cured and I cant allow someone like you to kill him as long as that's possible." The vampire tossed the weapon over his shoulder. Impaled to its hilt, she doubted she could pull it out in time before she was dead. "You're exhausted and need sleep. You'll be safe inside your tent."

There was wave of tiredness that swept through Hilde's mind. She struggled against it but found a sense of weightlessness taking over. She had barely managed to crawl into her sleeping bag before she closed her eyes. When she awoke, the fire was going but she could see the sun rising over the mountain’s peak. “I’ll get you next time, Halfdan.” Her heart wasn’t in her words. She felt at odds with herself. She needed more information now. His words could have been lies but was it worth the risk? He seemed... _human_. She recalled his pained expression when he told her it was his brother -- his _sick_ brother. 

She searched for her satellite phone in the mess of her tent. As she was about to call in, she hesitated. Maybe one more night.. 


End file.
